Morgan Hill survivalist surrenders to police By Chuck Carroll San Jose Mercury News The Morgan Hill SWAT team safely handled a self-proclaimed survivalist and martial artist who barricaded himself in his house Tuesday night after allegedly threatening to shoot his stepdaughter's 16-year-old boyfriend. Evacuated neighbors weren't allowed to return home until 3:30 this morning after spending most of the night sheltering in the clubhouse of the Madrone Mobile Home Park on Burnett Avenue. Police arrested 39-year-old Timothy Tator without incident at his home. He had held police at bay for about five hours after police responded to the boyfriend's 10 p.m. call for help. He told the police that Tator had held a gun to the back of his head and threatened to kill him over the teen's dating relationship with his 15-year-old stepdaughter. The youth had managed to talk his way out of the home and flee to a nearby pay phone to call the police. Tator also instructed his wife, stepdaughter and two stepsons to leave at that time. Police negotiators were unable to get Tator to come out of the house, so they evacuated 15 neighboring homes for several hours. They determined he had two handguns and a hunting rifle registered to himself. He told them he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and holding the rifle. Police talked to the gas-mask wearing Tator off and on by phone during the incident before he agreed to give himself up. Tator was booked into county jail on suspicion of brandishing a weapon in a threatening manner and making felony criminal threats. Police didn't find the vest in the house, but they did recover all the weapons they knew about and more, including an AR-15 assault rifle. The incident marked the third time in as many months that the town's SWAT team was called into action for a similar incident. ``It was a long night. We're trying to get Morgan Hill back to the sleepy little town it once was,'' said police Lt. Joe Sampson with a laugh.

Quoted: ...self-proclaimed survivalist... ...They determined he had two handguns and a hunting rifle registered to himself. He told them he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and holding the rifle.... ...Police didn't find the vest in the house, but they did recover all the weapons they knew about and more, including an [bold]AR-15 assault rifle[/bold].

Ohhh!!!  Scary!!!

Doesn't sound like much of a 'survivalist' if that's all he had.

*edited to add...

What does it matter that he was a 'survivalist' anyways?

You never hear them bragging about: "self proclaimed stamp collector arrested" or "amature photographer surrenders to the police".

That moron just makes us all look bad.

Swat team sure is lucky.  With the AR15 assault bullet hose that produces more thrust per sqeeze, he could have easily taken them all out without even having to reload clips!

The Mercury News is one of the crappiest newspapers I have had the displeasure to read.  I live about 25mins from Morgan Hill and this is news of the month there.  The town is filled with a cross of yuppies that used their dot.com money to purchase large amounts of land and build abnoxious homes and good ol'boys that still actually farm and have lived in the area since the town was named.  

Anytime any sort of gun type story comes to light, the hysteria starts and the Feinsteinites and Boxer-lovers come out of the woodwork.  Im suprised that they didnt break into regular programming to give a press conference with the "evil" black rifle and piles of other crap on the table screaming "baby and cop killer"

This state is so far outta whack...... end of rant.

Note to self: Barricade situation no good. Escape and evade mo betta!

Quoted: Note to self: Barricade situation no good. Escape and evade mo betta!

Yeah, this guy was no survivalist or else he would have had an exit strategy. Like the guy who held off the MI state police last year, the house burned down and when they went in to look for the body, they found out he had been long gone under their noses before the fire.

Quoted: Note to self: Barricade situation no good. Escape and evade mo betta!

Very true!

Quoted: That moron just makes us all look bad.

He sure does, he didn't even fire a shot.

In the fathers home, demanding rights to his 15 year old daughter, and if asked to leave this 16 year old would be in jail here not the home owner and father.

Now if he had pulled the trigger it may be up for discussion but not if the kid had been told to leave and didn't.  

CA has problems.

Tj